Meta Cash Flow Craters As Zuckerberg Doubles Down On AI Spending

Meta Platforms reported a 91% drop in second-quarter free cash flow ?on Wednesday, underscoring the financial strain of the social media giant's costly AI buildout amid an uncertain payoff. 

The Facebook and Instagram parent company reported free cash flow of $784 million ?in the second quarter ended June 30, down from $8.55 billion a year earlier, sending its shares down 10% in extended trading.

Meta's cash flow wipeout echoed



Alphabet's, which last week reported its first-ever cash-flow-negative quarter, stunning even the most bullish of Wall Street investors who sold off the Google owner's stock. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call: "We expect that a significant portion of our compute is going to go towards training our models, growing our core business and delivering personal agents and new ?products, but we also expect to grow a large business serving large customers as well."